Prince Faisal, nephew of King Khalid of Saudi Arabia, arrived today in Sherbrooke, 60 miles north of Montreal, accompanied by a small delegation of Saudi Arabian dignitaries. Among the personalities accompanying the Prince were Dr. O. Nassef, president of the University of Jidda, and Sam Inkewi, and engineer and architect. The group arrived from Jidda, Saudi Arabia’s administrative capital, on the King’s personal plane.
They were met at Sherbrooke by Essan Abid Shaikh, Saudi Arabia’s Cultural Attache to Canada. They were joined later in the day by a much larger delegation which arrived at Doral International Airport in Montreal, because Sherbrooke Airport is too small for the delegation’s Boeing 707 plane. This evening the delegations are due in Ottawa.
In an exclusive interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Sherbrooke’s industrial commissioner, Alex Baptist, disclosed that the Prince and his entourage of professionals and executives were in Sherbrooke “to inaugurate the Gabre Phone Products, a plant for sound reproduction instruments. They intend to produce sound reproduction instruments for the North American market and duplicate the existing plant which engineer Sad Gabre has successfully set up in Canterbury, Britain.”
Baptist said Gabre is from Egypt and is a relatively recent newcomer to the exclusive Hatley Acres area, some 87 miles north of Sherbrooke. “It is my impression that Prince Faisal and his advisers are taking a vivid interest in setting up joint ventures with Canadian companies to produce products they can sell back home, ” Baptist said. “They are looking for possibilities of investment in Canada and that is why they leave today for Ottawa where they will enter into discussions with the Leigh Instruments Co. of Ottawa for similar communication products.”
The amount of the first investment would be an estimated $30 million, Baptist said. He stated that the group will leave tomorrow for an unspecified destination. Baptist stressed that he had been told that the Saudi Arabians were not hinterested in buying real estate or hotels.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
